Jackson, Keith Top List of CMA Nominees

To view photos of Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich announcing the CMA nominees, visit their artist pages at CMT.com.

Thanks to a little boost from Jimmy Buffett, Alan Jackson and Toby Keith lead the field for the 38th annual CMA Awards, but newcomer Gretchen Wilson’s impact on the country industry was readily apparent when the nominees were announced Monday morning (Aug. 30).

Nominations in several categories were announced in New York on CBS-TV’s The Early Show by Kris Kristofferson and the show’s anchor, Hannah Storm. The remaining nominees were revealed live in Nashville by Wilson, Big & Rich and CMT Insider host Katie Cook during a special edition of Insider.

The all-star remake of Hank Williams’ “Hey, Good Lookin'” resulted in video and musical event of the year nominations for Buffett and Jackson, Keith, Kenny Chesney and Clint Black.

All in all, Jackson is nominated in seven categories, including male vocalist and entertainer of the year. He also netted single, song and video of the year nods for “Remember When.” Jackson’s connection with Buffett also led to another video nomination for their collaboration on “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.”

Keith is nominated in a total of six categories, including male vocalist and entertainer of the year. He is also up for single of the year (“I Love This Bar”) and album of the year ( Shock ‘n Y’all). Keith could win two trophies each in the single and album categories for co-producing his work with James Stroud.

Fueled by the phenomenal success of “Redneck Woman,” Wilson is nominated in five categories, including a coveted album of the year mention for her debut, Here for the Party and a Horizon nomination for her career strides. The song also resulted in single and video of the year nominations. Wilson and co-writer John Rich received a song of the year nomination for the hit. Horizon and duo of the year nominations also went to Big & Rich, the duo of Big Kenny and Rich, a former member of Lonestar.

Alison Krauss is also nominated in five categories, including female vocalist, but most of her nominations stem from collaborations. “Whiskey Lullaby,” her recording with Brad Paisley, is nominated for single, video and musical event of the year. Krauss received another musical event nomination for “How’s the World Treating You,” the track she recorded with James Taylor for the album Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’: Songs of the Louvin Brothers.

Including his musical event nomination with Buffett, Chesney is nominated in five categories. On top of male vocalist and entertainer of the year nominations, Chesney’s When the Sun Goes Down is up for album of the year. The title track featuring Uncle Kracker is also nominated in the musical event category.

The 38th annual CMA Awards take place Nov. 9 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. The show will be telecast live on CBS.